In an interview with Jon Favreau about "Iron Man 3" on April 7, he talks about his role as Happy Hogan and his relationship with his cohorts in the film. Hogan's suspicions of certain characters also will come into play in regards to who are additional threats to Tony Stark.
Happy about being Happy
Favreau gave thought to his role as Happy Hogan once again in “Iron Man 3”, he felt it was bit of a challenge to move from the character, which he considered as part of the family, and the conflict where he had to focus back on directing.
Now that Shane Black is at the helm, Favreau can contribute more to the Happy character and doesn’t really require that much work in “Iron Man 3”.
“But for “Iron Man 3” my day-to-day responsibility isn't tremendous. The team knows what they’re doing. It’s Robert and Shane [Black] and Kevin [Feige] and Stephen Broussard and, although I’m involved as an executive producer, that’s more like being the loving grandfather who gets to play with the baby when you want to, but you don’t have to worry about dirty diapers”.
This could mean more comedic shenanigans on Happy’s part, but there have been rumors going around about Stark’s sidekick being killed off as well.
That being said, it was discussed during the interview the nature of the relationship between Stark and Hogan. In the first “Iron Man”, Hogan indeed was his right hand man. Stark relied upon him to keep him out of trouble, organized, and also be his protector. There’s a reason he’s an adequate boxer.
But, Favreau explains as the film has progressed in the sequels, that Stark’s need for Hogan isn’t entirely necessary.
“By the time present day is happening, why does Iron Man need a bodyguard? He can build robots to do anything and he’s got a suit to protect himself, so the job that Happy took so much pride in is no longer relevant”.
Favreau, also explains the comic book Happy Hogan to the current one and the nature of his small crush on Pepper Potts.
“In the comic books, he’s got a big crush on Pepper, so I wanted that to inform the role I’m playing. Happy doesn’t have anything to offer her and he’s loyal to Tony, so he would never do anything. But I think it does make his heart ache, and that’s a nice subtext to play as an actor”.
This may be comparable to when fans get crushed when they find out their celebrity crush got married.
The Happy and the Savin factor
Not much is known about the Savin, played by James Badge Dale, however, he is a cohort to Aldrich Killian, but is also a villain that hides it in obscurity as some kind of average Joe. Hogan has his reservations about him. Since Savin also works for Killian, Hogan shadows the both of them because he feels they’re up to no good.
“Happy is like the guard dog and Savin ends up playing into his worse fears and his concerns. And then Happy also remembers that he knows Savin’s boss, Killian, from somewhere, and when he places the face, he’s like a detective putting two and two together and like any good private investigator would do, he starts following them around and seeing what they’re up to, and it doesn’t seem like they’re up to any good. And so—not to mix metaphors—his spider senses begin tingling and he decides that he’s onto something and nobody will listen to him”.
In the Marvel comics, he plays Cold Blood which is a cyborg villain in the Marvel universe that’s a U.S. Army officer. Kevin Feige expresses that same character’s role in the “Iron Man 3” film. It all seems it might be going the route of the involvement with A.I.M. or at least one of the first entities to attempt to use Maya Hansen’s Extremis technology for wrong doing.
“James Badge Dale plays a character known as Savin. He works for Guy Pearce’s character, Aldrich Killian. You don’t know a lot about Savin at first but as the movie unfolds you learn more and more that he is a very frightening individual and he’s somebody that has used Maya Hansen’s technology Extremis for his own ends”.
"Iron Man 3" will open in theaters come May 3.
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